03/14/16 5:00pm

Hughes Hangar, 2811 Washington Ave., Houston, 77007

Hughes Hangar, 2811 Washington Ave., Houston, 77007Hughes Hangar is finished with the spot at 2811 Washington Ave., behind Affection clothing boutique at the corner with Epstein Ct. The gastropub-nightclub announced on social media on Saturday that “everything is priced at $4.00” and that the business would close for good at the end of the night. The club posted earlier in the week about an electrical fire that knocked out audio and internet systems; posts to the venue’s Twitter and Facebook accounts on Thursday assured customers that the space would be open for the weekend, though the bar would be running cash only until credit card infrastructure was repaired.

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Weekend Getaway
03/14/16 1:45pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHERE HOUSTON STAYED UNDERWATER AFTER THE MEMORIAL DAY FLOOD Flooded Home“Was there ever any kind of press writeup on why so many homes in Meyerland did not come back from this last flood? I’m saddened by all the vacant lots, and on some streets off Endicott, there are clusters of teardowns. Was insurance plus flood insurance essentially useless for all of those homeowners? Or was it the new city building requirements? Genuine questions, because I’ve been in the area 30 years and this [flooding] seems to have been so much more devastating than Allison (and Ike).” [Heather, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: As Is, Where Is] Illustration: Lulu

03/14/16 12:00pm

Clock and Construction at Main St. and Texas Ave., Downtown Houston

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03/14/16 11:30am

Tree Removal by Apartments at 1850 Colquitt St., Montlew Place, Houston, 77098

A post-departure portrait of greenery along the Hazard St. side of the apartments at 1850 Colquitt St. comes with questions from a reader: what’s planned for the 16-unit complex across from the directionally-rebranded Takara-So complex? The shot above shows the leftover bits of 3 trees cut down at the site at the end of February; the 1948 complex changed hands most recently late last fall. Earlier last year, the building was a good deal greener all around — here’s a shot from its listing days from the corner of Colquitt and Hazard, showing the complex covered in ivy:

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Stumped on Hazard
03/14/16 10:00am

Jefferson Davis Site Plan 2014, Quitman at Tackaberry St., Northside, Houston, 77009

Cast in projector blue above: a snapshot of renderings for the remodel of Jefferson Davis High School, which is planning to expand. The Northside school, one of 8 in HISD changing names to drop references to Confederate figures, is getting some shiny new teaching facilities, including upgraded spaces for its culinary arts and management students (as shown in the projection above). The campus on Quitman St. is also staking out new parking lot territory across Tackaberry St.

Hungry for the details? HISD is hosting a community meeting on April 7th at the school to talk design plans. Until then, here’s a preview of the planned new exterior for the performing arts space:

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Northside Remake
03/14/16 8:30am

wald-sign

Photo: Bill Barfield via Swamplot Flickr Pool

Headlines
03/11/16 4:00pm

Obama Mural, Travis St. and West Alabama, Midtown, Houston

The president has just wrapped up his keynote speech at hippie-turned-techie-festival SXSW in Austin — but he’s been sighted all over the place today, including at the oft-redecorated corner of Alabama and Travis streets across the street from the Breakfast Klub. The newest mural was finished up last week in the recently whitewashed spot that has hosted various incarnations of Obama’s likeness over the last few years (and been vandalized several times).

Obama was also photographed earlier this afternoon at a Torchy’s Tacos in South Austin, where he reportedly ordered a Democrat, a Republican, and an Independent before heading back to the motorcade:

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On the Trail
03/11/16 2:45pm

WEIGHING THE OPTIONS ON KEEPING HOUSTON RELATIVELY DEVASTATING-STORM-SURGE-FREE GCCPRD Coastal Spine and Alternative MapA quick key to this map of Galveston Island and southwest Galveston Bay: (1) The yellow line shows the path of the ‘coastal spine’, a 60-mile seawall that would run along Galveston Island to Bolivar peninsula, with an enormous set of floodgates between the landmasses. The spine is a much-argued-over proposal to combat freakout-worthy flooding from future hurricane storm surges that could threaten the nation’s tennis ball supply. (2) The purple line shows an alternate plan proposed by the Gulf Coast Community Protection & Recovery District: put a ring around the city of Galveston (not the island itself), and place or expand levees along the mainland. Kiah Collier writes in the Texas Tribune yesterday that the GCCPRD’s recently released report makes a regional consensus on what to build way less likely any time soon: The study group says that the levee plan “would provide a nearly equivalent level of protection while costing several billion dollars less [than the coastal spine]. The catch: several Houston-area communities on the west side of Galveston Bay, including Kemah, La Porte, Seabrook, Morgan’s Point and San Leon, would be left outside the dike.” Public meetings with the GCCPRD are planned for the end of the month in Galveston, League City, Lake Jackson, and Orange. [Texas Tribune; previously on Swamplot] Map of coastal protection alternatives: Gulf Coast Community Protection & Recovery District report

03/11/16 1:00pm

March 11th Mural at former Heights Finance Station Post Office, 1050 Yale St., Houston Heights

Update, 5 pm: Work on the wall is finished; this article has been updated with additional photos.

A reader catches more than a dozen folks in the act of dolling up the former post office at 11th St. with some giant hearts and numbers this morning. The building, which was recently given a Valentine’s-themed makeover on the opposite side by some likely-taller members of the Houston mural scene, has been getting romantic attention while waiting for MFT Development to go forward with plans to demolish the structure to build a lowrise retail and office complex.

In the interrim, MFT says they’ve set the art students of Hogg Middle School on the Heights Blvd. side of the building. Here’s another shot of the action, looking closer to 11th:

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Love All Around
03/11/16 11:00am

Site of Proposed Housing Development at 2640 Fountainview Dr., Briargrove, Houston, 77057

Site of Proposed Housing Development at 2640 Fountainview Dr., Briargrove, Houston, 77057Here are some shots from the scene of the Houston Housing Authority’s office park on Fountain View Dr. north of Westheimer Rd., which the organization is planning to partially demolish and replace with a 233-unit mixed-income apartment complex. The sign shown here went up last month to advertise this week’s public meeting on the proposed construction, which drew standing-room-only crowds to the auditorium of Briargrove Elementary. A group of neighborhood residents is campaigning to stop the project; listed grievances include a lack of transparency surrounding the project, and asserting that school overcrowding wasn’t considered when HHA picked the spot.

The property, just north of the vacant H-E-B northwest of the corner with Westheimer, currently holds 2 office buildings sporting gently-bent-rectangular floorplans (that’s 2650 in the foreground, in the photo above, with 2640 behind it). An aerial rendering released by HHA shows 2640 swapped out for the apartment building, with the southern office building still in place below it:

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Trading Spaces
03/11/16 8:30am

rodeo-houston

Photo of Rodeo Houston: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool

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